


after all these years

by PeculiarHeadphones



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, and it only took them seventy fucking years, mostly just a character study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-02 22:38:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14555055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeculiarHeadphones/pseuds/PeculiarHeadphones
Summary: recounting when they fell in love, and when they were finally given the chance to act on it.





	after all these years

It’s unreasonable to ask when someone fell in love. How do you exactly measure when someone became the center of your universe, when they became the person who put the stars in the night sky. If you were to ask Bucky, he wouldn’t be able to tell you when he fell for Steve. For as long as he could remember, even back when they were just kids in Brooklyn, it was Steve, it was always Steve.

 

Maybe it was how Bucky always had to look after him, make sure Steve wasn’t getting into any trouble, always having to rescue Steve when he had picked a fight with someone twice his size. Maybe it was his unbreakable spirit. He wouldn’t ever back down, even if it seemed hopeless, even if he knew he would lose. Maybe it was how Steve stood up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves. Again, even if it was a fight he was bound to lose, he wouldn’t put up with people who couldn’t pick on someone their own size. Ironic, isn’t it?

 

Being in love means when they’re happy, you’re happy, even if it hurts like hell. Watching Steve go off with Peggy, fall in love with her, hurt Bucky more than he would admit. Besides, at the end of the day, deep down, Steve was still that little punk from Brooklyn, and he was still his best friend. That was enough.

 

In those final moments of clarity, before becoming nothing more than another tool at HYDRA’s disposal, he only thought of Steve, wondering if he was safe, if he was okay. Even when his memory had been erased, when he was just another weapon, there was that instinct, that primal feeling that he couldn’t name. Even when he only knew of destruction, there was that small part of his mind screaming, there was something about his mission that seemed familiar. 

 

Again, it’s unreasonable to have someone pinpoint when they fell in love, but Steve Rogers had a better grasp on the timeline than most.

 

A man out of his time, so out of place, so scared, so alone. Even Peggy had changed, moved on, grown. There was nobody who understood. Nobody else had been through everything with him. Nobody except Bucky. 

 

At first he was only in love with the memory of Bucky, since it was all he had left. Bucky was the only one who had been with him through everything. But then it grew into something more than just the nostalgia of it all, it became real. It became craving Bucky’s reassuring touch or to just see those gorgeous blue eyes, he missed his best friend. There was a period of time where believed he would never get to see him again, and it fucking  _ hurt _ .

 

Both will agree, the situation in which they reunited was not particularly ideal, but there wasn’t much time to complain. The only thing that mattered was that they made their way back into each other’s lives, one way or another.

 

Bucky had just wished they hadn’t been so busy running from Tony and the government, and maybe he could’ve told Steve what he had been waiting to tell him for nearly a decade. 

 

Steve had just wished that he could’ve worked up the courage to tell Bucky that through all of the loneliness he had gone through over the years, the thought of Bucky helped him through it.

 

He had wanted to protest Bucky going back into cryo, but he understood why he had chosen to. He wouldn’t be in there forever, and after that there would be nothing in the way of telling Bucky everything.

 

When T’Challa called him, informing him Bucky had been awoken, Steve had dropped everything. T’Challa had sent over a jet, and Steve paced the entire time until the landing. He kept the greetings between him and the king brief, anxious to see Bucky. His younger sister, Shuri, had smiled as she guided him over the grassy hills, the evening sun beating down on him.

 

Shuri gestured over to a hut, where a familiar figure stood, standing in what seemed to be surprise and awe. Shuri told Steve to let her know if he needed anything, then left the two men to their own devices.

 

They slowly made their way over to each other, gazing at one another, noticing the changes. Steve had begun growing a beard, Bucky didn’t have a metal arm attached at the moment. 

 

Once they were close enough, Bucky placed his hand on the back of Steve’s neck. They tried to find the right words to say, but none came to mind. How do you tell someone that there were some days where the only reason they got up in the morning was because of the chance they might see the other once again? How do you let out all of the feelings you’ve been holding in for years? Words alone can never be enough to convey just how much someone means to you.

 

They both leaned in barely an inch, as if they were testing the waters. Then, Steve placed both his hands on either side of Bucky’s faced, and their lips connected.

 

They kissed like it would be the last time they would ever get to do so. Steve felt like home, warm and safe, and he closed any remaining gap between him. Steve was oxygen, and Bucky had been drowning for so long. 

 

Steve had felt out of place for so long, like he didn’t belong anywhere. But right here, right now, with Bucky, he felt safe, like this is where he was meant to be.

 

While they felt like they could spend the rest of eternity where they were, they eventually broke apart, panting lightly and pressing their foreheads together. They made their way into the hut as the sun set outside, laying on the bed and curling up against one another. Steve held Bucky close, resting his chin on the other’s head. There wasn’t any exchange of words, they could deal with that later. Of course there was time to make up for, but they had all the time in the world now.

**Author's Note:**

> and then joss whedons purple thumb proceeded to fuck everything up. because why the fuck not.
> 
> if you comment below Actual Bucky Barnes Will Show Up And Punch You
> 
> still writing in anguish from infinity war? have a lot of feelings about anything at all? have a deep, seething hatred for me and wish to know my address so you can tell the hitman where to find me? talk to me! my tumblr is peculiar-headphones


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